For Vasaris, the Profit
Is Helping Kids Learn

By

Thomas Petzinger Jr.

Updated June 12, 1998 12:01 a.m. ET

I T READS LIKE a blood oath. "We are here to make a profit," says the mission statement at the Anderson Group, a small network-installation firm in Akron, Ohio. "Every ounce, every fiber, every dollar, every minute of our organization will focus on realizing our potential and making a profit."

But life, as they say, is what actually happens when you're planning other things. The Anderson Group regularly accepts marginally profitable work. On some jobs it knowingly loses money. "Sometimes we get...